- Purchase a product from the Music Store sold by Amazon.co.uk and receive £1 to use on an album download in our MP3 Store. Here's how (terms and conditions apply)
Amazon.co.uk allows you to pay for your items in your local currency. Restrictions apply. Learn More. |
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or
view the MP3 Album.
|
Product Description
Review
It shouldn’t really be a surprise, but it’s still a shock to the system, exploding expectations like broken billiard balls. Minutes to Midnight, Linkin Park’s third album, made clear the California sextet’s move from nu-metal dynamics to something softer and more mainstream-friendly (not that they were struggling to shift records – 2000 debut Hybrid Theory has sold over 24 million copies). But if that was the sound of a band embracing their classic rock side, A Thousand Suns is, at its zenith/nadir (delete according to taste), Celine Dion Goes Mall Rock.
This album’s closer, The Messenger, is the wettest song to ever fill the raspy throat of flaming-armed frontman Chester Bennington. It’s on a level with Avril Lavigne’s I’m With You, or Christina Aguilera’s Beautiful, only hollered hoarsely rather than pitched painfully high. Similarly wet about their edges are Iridescent – an exercise in Gallaghers-level rhyming – and Burning in the Skies.
However, it should be noted that Linkin Park were not intending to make an album when they set about recording these less-than-impressive efforts. They were playing with ideas, breaking down concepts that’d served them well previously, trying to find something fresh. They didn’t want whatever their next album was to be predictable, and while A Thousand Suns might have emerged by accident compared to previous LPs, it’s certainly a far from plays-to-perceived-type affair.
The aforementioned blips on this critic’s radar can’t obscure some perplexingly compelling material elsewhere. When They Come for Me lays its intent on the line with its first words: "I am not a pattern to be followed". The track’s jungle percussion and backing chants give it a tribal feel, and if the lead vocals – rapped, badly – were just a touch peppier there’s no doubt it’d be a magic moment of their catalogue to date. Blackout is a lot of fun, Bennington ranting potty-mouthed across an electro-tinged arrangement that isn’t so many stylistic miles away from the crunchy beats served up by Pendulum, albeit slowed and scratched into a dizzy spin. The Catalyst is the closest A Thousand Suns comes to the Linkin Park sound of old, and is among this collection’s most immediate offerings. It’s no surprise it’s been well received at radio, plucked from its parent LP as the first commercial single.
But the penultimate track here really shouldn’t be a sign of things to come, simply an echo of the past. If Linkin Park take the best moments of this haphazard set as jumping-off points for what happens next, they might just strike upon a new formula every bit as successful as the one that flogged their debut so brilliantly.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Next thing Vs First,
This review is from: A Thousand Suns (Audio CD)
Having received and listened to my copy of a thousand suns prior to reading any of the reviews.i was not suprised,to then read the rather mixed comments it received. However ignoring the fact that it was Linkin Park,and just listening to the tracks,i found i liked more than i disliked . I really liked.... when they come for me...wretches and kings,and... the catalyst. mainly due to the fact that they were not typical Linkin Park tracks. I strongly believe music should be bought because you like it not simply because its the latest release of a particular band. And there are definately more tracks on this cd that i like than dislike. I think the reason for the mixed reviews are best summed up by the band in the lyrics of when they come for me. "EVERYONE WANTS THE NEXT THING TO BE JUST LIKE THE FIRST." well its not So If you you only like old Linkin Park stuff then don`t buy this cd,save your money and play all your old Linkin Park cd`s. But if you like diffrent types of music give it a listen.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Don't make the mistake I did,
This review is from: A Thousand Suns (Audio CD)
I have liked LP since their first album and when this came out I reviewed it on itunes. I gave it 2 stars and the second one was because, as I said in the review, I would listen to it all again and was ever the optimist. Thank him upstairs that I did listen to it again. You need to forget all the previous stuff. You need to sit down and take time out. Switch off your phone, get your headphones on and crank up the volume. Listen to the album from start to finish, although I would forgive you if you skipped Iridecent (not sure what they were doing), as having done this a couple of time I have to say the album is brilliant. It flows beautifully and some of the songs need to be listened to in sequence. No its not the LP of old and if you love the guitars etc you won't like it, but for me its up there with the first two albums but just with a completely different sound. Fair play to them for their bravery.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
People are entitled to their opinions, here's mine...,
By Kfreeman (East Anglia, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Thousand Suns [Explicit] (MP3 Download)
I enjoyed listening to the first Linkin Park album when a drummer friend bought it into the shop I worked in. The beats and mish mash of explosive riffs, fairly decent raps and soaring choruses impressed me immensely. A little older and wiser the second had it's moments for me but was drifting and slowly the two held less interest for me beyond a few songs. Minutes to Midnight came along and while admirable for its efforts in trying to forge the next steps in their sound there were chunks that left me wanting. My friend and I bought tickets for November at the O2 largely out of 'never got around to this, been ten years, perhaps we should'. Imagine my surprise when I first heard the Catalyst. A driving beat, soaring synth notes, lyrics that grab me in a very grown up way, a better marriage of Mike and Chester's (and apparently the rest of the band's) vocal sounds than I'd ever heard from them. Building and building in a fashion of emotional highs and lows I wouldn't have ever thought possible. Best I could describe my first encounter with this was - I want to listen to this again. Once the actual album arrived I was in awe. Everyone working at the top of their game. From the gentle keyboard to the varied beats, the waves of delicate to vicious guitar and the whole band vocals dipping in and out from beginning to end. I've now heard this album probably 20 times and I'm still not tired, if anything it gets better each time. Maybe it is too different (I am intrigued to see how some of it's going to fit in with the older tracks live) but different is good. All the Oppenheimer/Dr King stuff, it lends a meaning and weight to a lot of it. It's like they're striving for something bigger and better even as they finally release it.I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, I'm not trying to start a debate with anyone, I just need to share my two cents. I know it's only been a few days but unlike a lot of the bands I listened to in my youth I can actually imagine enjoying this in ten years time. Bravo Linkin Park; Bravo
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
